This is one of those intriguing West-meets-East programmes which these
days more commonly sees the tables reversed, with numerous new composers
emerging from China and elsewhere. This music started to take form when
Belgian composer Wim Henderickx found himself high in the Nepalese Himalayas
and, on sounding a huge gong there, had the inspiration for his
Tantric
Cycle. Other works in this series have preceded those in this
recording, but the link between music and spirituality is explored deeply
here.
Disappearing in Light is an extensive work in five movements,
reflecting 'an imaginary tantric ritual', with all its theatricality of
gesture. There is unusual string playing, an alto flute which takes on the
qualities of an ethnic bamboo instrument, and some remarkable exotic singing
from Mireille Capelle. No vocal texts are given in the booklet, so our
interpretations of meaning are free. Passions and apparent aggression in the
first movement contrast with calls in the second which refer to Eastern
mantras. Static silences are punctuated by the ritualistic percussive sounds
of stones, and the use of tubular bells further along in the work also give
an impression of cyclic devotional actions. As a whole this is a piece with
a remarkably convincing atmosphere of strange worship and elusive
narratives. Creating such a thing with an economy of means which involves
only four players and a smattering of restrained electronic effects is quite
a feat.
Raga III opens with the refreshing tonality of an open fifth, the
drone introducing a piece based on the '"Shri raga", a raga for the noon
which breathes spirituality and melancholy.' The deep sonorities of the
viola weave lines around this tonal base, evoking shimmering heat and vast
landscapes.
The Four Elements takes on this universal theme with sparing
symbolism and a further exploration of deep spirituality.
Air is
filled with a variety of breath sounds, the range and colour of which is
extended by electronic echoes. Vocal lines are once more a central feature,
the emotional connections at times direct and confrontation, at others more
operatic and objective.
Fire pits the voice against a cello in an
energetic struggle out of which 'electronics represent the wood on which the
duo of the mezzo and cello flare up as music.'
Water is a gentler
portrait, with an electronic halo of burbling aquatic sounds around voice
and clarinet. The final
Earth has heavily thumping rubble to
underpin the penetrating, cyclic gestures of voice and violin.
This is not easy music, but it is a potent source of expression which
gathers and filters Eastern music and rituals through the composer's
experience, his interpretations transforming familiar instruments and the
human voice into worlds which for most of us are distant and unknown. Well
recorded and superbly performed by members of the HERMESensemble, the CD is
presented in a nice foldout package like a mini-LP.
Dominy Clements
